What do PvE groups need from W/M's?

My question is:

What role do PvE groups need a W/M to fill?

How do you want us to function?

I have read many posts here complaining about noob W/M's doing stupid stuff.......so, I ask for instruction.........please reply with your experiences of HOW a W/M should function in a group.

I ask this question with a sincere desire to learn and grow a player, I wish for my W/M to be as valuable to a group as possible......when in a group, it's about the team, not the individual.

Thanks for your replies in advance.

W/Mo I'm guessing is what you mean since W/Me also starts with an M secondary but no healing really...

W/Mo's in pve are separated into two categories. The tank, and the idiot...

While in PvE where monsters just whap you to death, you NEED the most defensive most heavily armored class to eat the punishment so that the rest of your softies can hide behind your manly man self... Warriors are the meat shield and as far as I'm concerned, THEY are the reasons a team will win in PvE or lose in PvE. Smart Warriors keep their team alive, noobs do the opposite.

A group is as safe as their armor and that's what a Warrior is. The bodyguard, the shield for the cowering weaklings who can't take a beating like you can...

You want to bring skills that keep you alive and not worry too much about damage. Unless of course you want to do damage, which some defensive tanks can do better than eles can. [Mark of Pain anyone? ^_^]

If you're W/Mo in PvE, I'd suggest investing 8-10 in Tactics and wielding a Sword with Riposte skills backing it up as well as some defensive tactics stances.

I was refering to W/Mo, sorry bout that and thank you.

Everything you have advised I had to assume would be the case, exccept one item...

I am presently W/Mo lvl13 and have gone Axe so far........are the skills associated with Sword more beneficial as a meat shield tank for a group? If they are I am switching.....

That's pretty much it, really. Any class can have a crap build, but in my experience it's usually the W/Mos who forget this simple fact. Make sure you don't and I personally won't have a problem with you.

Axe is fine really, weapon choice is up to you for the most part.

For the most part, the hated 'noob' W/Mo's out there's main problem is not understanding the needs of the team.
If they are healthy, and noone is dead, most of them seem to think it is fine to sprint into the middle of the next group of baddies.
This is often not the case. Most classes have to pause after battles to let energy recharge for example, frequently pausing to discuss tactics is important, watching for roaming patrols, timing attacks, etc. After the first couple of missions blind charging stops working, this is after all, a game of tactics.

Realistically, by simply making this thread, i would suggest that you would manage just fine in PvE, you clearly want to help the group, just remember that the rest of your team are a lot more delicate then you, and do what you can to keep most of the damage away from them so they can do there jobs better.

Also, patience.
W/Mo's seem to be the most abusive when things go wrong, ie, when they die. Sometimes .. you die, monks can do there very best .. some times, you will still die, the other classes will sometimes 'fail', everyone needs to be forgiving and understanding .


Summary
We want you to recieve as much punishment as you can handle so we can do our thing better.
Monks can heal/protect better if fewer people are recieving a pounding
Mesmers/Necros can manipulate foes better if thats all they need to focus on
Ele's can fling damage about better if they aren't needing to run around in circles screaming.
Rangers .. have decent armor class too, can tank nearly like you, but can take no where near as much of a pounding as you can. With some protection they can fling conditioned arrows around and do there thing.


Ps .. and have a res spell/signet on you.

Besides from listening to the team and having a strategy, I really appreciate it when 1 warrior can take charge of the team and effectively call each and every target. This is the main reason I prefer the henches over normal pugs, because you can call targets and focus fire to quickly win fights. The warrior is a great and easy character to play, but most people that play warriors just don't have an effective strategy other than "me run, me hit stuff...uggg". Two people in my guild have elementalists that they completed the game with, and they always complained about stupid warriors that would aggro mobs and not listen in groups. Now that they completed the game with there elementalists, they decided to makes warriors and level thru the game together. I group with them sometimes, and its really funny, because the same people that complained about warrior being stupid are now being stupid. They do listen for the most part, but there are many times that they feel the urge to aggro mobs and move to quickly for the rest of the group.

A small list of things a warrior should do in a group to be loved by me.
1. Warriors decide amoungst themselves which warrior will be calling targets in the group
2. The warrior that is calling targets should call the target before running in to aggro the group of monsters, don't call the target half way there on once you are there. At that point it is to late for the team to help you.
3. When a fight has just ended, rest........wait for the team to regain there energy and health.
4. Be a leader! To be a leader I dont mean that you must boss people around, but take control of situations and effectively lead your group into battle. A good leader is also a good listener.
5. This final comment is one that I'm sure most rangers will get onboard with! When you have a particularly difficult mob and if you have a ranger on your team, by all means use your ranger if he is using traps. I can't even count how many times I have been in a group discussing a game plan on how to effectively take out a mob and I suggest laying traps and get ignored. Or, everyone agrees, I lay the traps, but the warriors run ahead and never pull the monsters to the traps. lmfao

1.) Never take Mending into a combat situation.
2.) Your job is survive, not to kill things.
3.) Take skills that will enable you to engage the attention of all the monsters in a pack, and survive long enough for the monk to catch up with you and heal you, and for the damage-dealers to destroy the monsters you have so nicely clumped.
4.) Speak to your party about aggro. Make sure they understand that you are not "running ahead" but that you are "drawing aggro onto yourself". If the squishy members of the party are hanging onto your coat-tails its hard to keep all the monsters attacking yourself.
5.) Wait after each battle for energy to regen. This can take a minute if people have been casting massive exhaustion spells. Don't try to make it into the next fight before the adrenaline skills run out. Each battle should start with max energy and no adrenaline.
6.) Whenever possible make the monsters come to you instead of going to them. A lot of parties like the Ranger to "pull" with a longbow. This is pants. The monsters will chase the Ranger then. Take a longbow yourself and "pull" the monsters to attack you.
7.) Make sure your party waits to start casting/wanding/archering untill after the monsters' attention is fixed on you.
8.) Say thanks to the monk. You and him are a team that gives the rest of the party the freedom to cast etc in peace.
9.) People have a low opinion of the average intellegence of a W/Mo. Use proper spelling and grammar at all times, and make intellegent comments. Break peoples' expectations. Don't boast of your prowess. Praise your party members.
10.) Be a godamm hardcore kickass RED ENGINE GO GO GO tank.

Hihi..... Intellegent?

I agree with Cagan: you seem to think before acting. That's it, perfect attitude. Don't worry bout the rest, it will come naturally!


*still laughing a bit at Jamski :P *

The reason I posted that sword is better is due to the EXTRA blocking capability wielding a sword posseses. Riposte and Deadly Riposte is an energy and an adrenal skill and that is smart management of your defensive resources [that and with good tactics, they hit back HARD]. Axe is ok, but none of the axe skills carry any defensive meaning in any of the skill lines. But if you want to feed adrenal heavy defensive skills (Namely, Bonetti's Defense), nothing beats Cyclone Axe in terms of efficiency and reliability.

Waiting for the team to regen is good, but the best warriors can draw aggro and stay alive for well over 7 minutes without a team's help. This is ONLY important if you're the group looking to squeeze the most out of your exp enhancing scrolls. I sometimes [though rarely due to rampant incompetance] will just run off while my team is resting to aggro a group and keep the enemy group near me [outside teammate aggro bubbles]. I can withstand about 4 mins. of a beating before I really need a monk's help. Within 2 minutes, ANY group should be full enough to continue a fight but 4 mins. before I go down should be plenty enough. The reason you'd ever do this is when you're dealing with 'idiots' that don't understand the meaning of, LET THEM HIT ME!!! However, if they're resting, they usually won't follow you assuming you'll just go out and die or something...

Prove them wrong, survive, and when they stand up, you should be around 50% hp or so with nobody turning to chase your comrades. Well done!

"Waiting for the team to regen is good, but the best warriors can draw aggro and stay alive for well over 7 minutes without a team's help."

I'd like to see you pull that crap in the UW or FOW.

I think mending gets a bad rap, I put it on in PvE and if it stays on it helps me tank better, if it gets removed I don't put it back on while fighting but will put it on after.

That should be #1! How someone can call running to the other side of the screen and fighting there "pulling" is beyond me.

Ahh the beauty of the W/R. No one ever waits for me to pull with my longbow, they all just run towards the enemies and fire away.

I don't play a Warrior in except for my W/Mo farmer, so I'd like to understand the reasoning behind this statement, which I've seen several times before. (Please understand, I'm not disagreeing, just trying to understand it.)

Does this prohibition include all continuous or near-continuous self-help (such as Live Vicariously or Vigorous Spirit)? I've always thought that things like this can help to take the pressure off the Monk. Please 'splain...

As said before, caring about the group's need is basically what most people would want of you. My take on the Wa/Mo :
- you're a target : you have the best armor (make sure you do), monsters should be munching on you, and not on the juicies in the group. Make sure you're first to aggro, and keep it. Don't hesitate to switch targets if a critter ignores you and goes for the back line : engaged monsters will probably keep on hitting you while you move, and you should attract the straggler's attention.
- you're a target : you're that little flag poking from the hole in the middle of the green. Nukers should find tight-packed critters groups near you. Herd them. Use the terrain to block them. Switch targets and move a few paces to make those 2 groups a big mob. It won't work everytime, but try.
- you're a shield : help the group when in trouble. Mesmer getting clubbered by a troll ? You got there and hit it ! It will probably choose you as the next target, especially if it's previous victim retreats.
- you are not a killer : well, you are, but not so good at it. Don't expect to be dropping mobs by yourself. No sense in taking offensive skills exclusively, you're not soloing. Watch Yourself is a cheap adrenal skill, but the +20AL will make a world a difference for softies under fire.
- you're a monk too : duh ! You'll never be a good monk, but you can help. I always have some kind of res ready. I usually pack a Word of Healing too : it's an 'emergency' heal (cast time is so-so), so you'll always get the <50% health bonus, and it's cheap (5 energy). Can't use it on yourself ; that means you'll have to rely on the team to keep you alive, then. I like Healing Seed too (no self-cast, pity), efficient when a soft-target cluster gets into trouble.


As for Mending, I never leave without it. At 10 Healing Prayer, it's a +3 regen ; combined with 80+10AL+shield+absorption+whatever, it goes a long way against melee-type opponents. Spares that much healing and energy which can be put to better use. It leaves you with 1 energy regen ? You're a warrior, energy is scares anyway. Switch to a focus when you absolutely need to cast (and that means preventing a team-mate from dying, mostly). Plus you can even _cast it on other_. True, I tested it, it works on teamies too ! Great for counter-balancing disease or poison when the whole party turns sickly green and healers can't keep up.


On a note to other classes : it's normal for the warrior to run ahead. How else do you expect monsters to preferentially target the tank ? Paint the armor red ? So please, stop trying to keep up, especially when closing in on mobs. We need room to herd and divert them, it's not as though a single warrior will kill all targets before you get a chance to bring out the fireworks ...

On the other hand, 2 days ago, a fellow member in a PUG told me I was making the mission easy (he apparently had tried with a few other groups before) : I guess it's as good as it gets That was real nice to hear (well, read, but you get the idea).

That's it for now. Once again just my humble opinion. I would like to know what groups expect from there favorite meat shield, as much as the OP does...

i dont agree that the warriors have to be complete tanks in pve. If your typical 8 player group has 3 good monks, the warriors need nothing more than their high armor and a brain.

But your typical 8 player group does NOT have 3 good monks. Standard I see is 2 monks, and they're not always great. You pretty much typified what makes many other players dislike Warriors: all they do is rush in blindly and attack. Smart Warriors know to check the rest of the team's Energy levels and go when the whole team's ready.

Also, some form of res is good, preferably Res Sig. If you're still alive when the softies of your team are going down, you've got some problem with aggroing. Either they're too close to you or you're too close to them. You should be the first one to fall, if any die. Why a Warrior would have a longer res is beyond me unless he's carrying running skills too, and then I question his effectiveness.

At the very least, coordinate and talk with your team. If you've got a friendly and cooperative team, you guys can get things done.

Side note: as W/Mo, I don't think you should be healing so much. Good monks can handle that already. If you must, bring some cheap heal spells and don't put too many points into Healing; Tactics is a much better line for tanking.

Thank you everyone for your advice and experience. This is just what I was looking for. I will keep all of this in mind when I'm in a group. Most I had kind of figured out already, but it's good to know I was on the right track.

As for using a bow to pull as a Warrior, I had figured out that trick already with my henchies.....a great way to control the flow of battle/aggro.

Now I hope I can convince some of the players to let me go a lil ways ahead to get the aggro and hold it,..........and to not race forward to their death......but that is the topic of another thread

As for not being an abusive clod towards the Monk because I just died......I most definately won't be a jerk towards the healer, I know better. I ran Clerics, Druids, and Healers in Dark Age of Camelot for almost 2 years before I left last fall. I know what "healer abuse" feels like.

Thanks guys

Don't listen to this crap first of all. Sometimes people give awful advice on these forums. Mending is an excellent skill for PvE. PvP yeah it's awful but there's many people who play mostly PvP that have wrongly maligned Mending as far as PvE is concerned. A War with a +3 Mending (Healing 8 needed) on in PvE is a War that hardly ever needs to be healed thus allowing the Monk to focus on the squishies and save energy for them. You'll be very surprised how much punishment you can take in PvE with +3 constant health regen and you're normal high armor and absorption. PvE is a completely different animal than PvP. Other uses too, hell Mending single-handedly allowed me to do Thunderhead with all henchies, it kept the King alive.

ya mending is good coupled with protective spirit. But watch out for enchantment strippers.

Thing is, I'm not an elitist. I don't hand-pick my PUGs. I don't go for 3 monks, I don't even go for 2, especially in 6 people parties. I just go for other people who want to have fun. So I take some healing, and try to pass off for half a monk.
Can't afford Res Signet either, it's only a one-shot.

Long and short of it is, I don't have the heart to turn down people just because we already have 3 Eles in the party (did that once, 4 Eles, 1 Monk and me as Wa/Mo, big fun . Plus I play in Europe, can't grow too picky there. So I run motley groups. Some don't like it, they(re free to leave, and try to fit in a 'perfect' party. PvE's too easy anyway, that adds some challenge.

But you're basically right, Warriors shouldn't have to heal so much.

In my days as a W/Mo, I concidered my self a low damage dealing tank.

I took good damage, and delt a good bit with nice combos.

I'm now trying W/R.

If anyone has any good W/r pet using builds please pm me about it

Regards, Ashleigh.

I made a warrior/monk for PvE purposes and mainly use the Monk skills like Mending, Remove conditions and Heal for myself. The rest of my status is to damage/kill as much as possible. When I use my other characters, I like for warriors to tank/hold enemies in place for my spells. As a warrior however I want to be able to last in the midst of battle, heal myself if needed and above all... kill kill kill.

The purpose of PvE W/Mo is to be a self sustaining, damage dealing shield for your group. Now a lot of PvE warrior/monks are for running and farming purposes as well. My lv 12 warrior/monk can solo those lv7 and 8 gargoyles with little difficulty. I have also been able to run myself all the way to beacon in a group. Its a good BUILD how be it overused build but I don't care. I didn't make the build for someone else's profit or enjoyment. I made it for myself to use how I want and its a great PvE combination with hench.

The biggest problem i have had is warrior characters being leeroy jenkins wannabes, and just blatantly no listening to the group for example in the group i use for fissure we have 5 regulars but need 1 monk 1 ele and 1 warrior to make up the numbers.
It seems 9 times out of ten we get a warrior that says they have cleared FoW heaps exp etc but then once in game they run from group to group dragging the team behind them not waiting for recharge or heading in the right direction and they generally die and then quit.

All i would like from warriors is to think of the groups build is it primarily casters? if so you should be playing the role of meat shield, letting casters do the dmg while you maybe smite a bit and mostly use defense, if the group has a large % of other warriors you can maybe go for a more dmg orientated build. But the biggest thing is to listen to the group if someone is saying they have low energy or need to recharge then wait dont run to the next group, if one of the casters is drawing alot of attention then go and attack the person hitting them try and take the aggro on to yourself and not the caster, and lastly follow the groups lead dont just head where you want to go cause the group may have a plan or know something you dont.

I have actually just finished building up a warrior as i got sick of the warriors who thought they were king and ruined all the runs, i wanted to be a smart warrior using more defense and meat shield skills, but hopefully i wont need to use him that often if more people take these aspects in to there game.

Mending.

Mending costs you 1 pip of regen. That's 1 energy every 3 seconds. It gives you 3 pips of health (at 8 healing). That's 6 health every second, or 18 health every 3 seconds. That's 18 health per energy, if you like.

Compare with Live Vicariously. That's also 1 energy every 3 seconds. At 8 Healing that's 8 health every time you swing. With a sword/axe that's 3 swings in 2 seconds, or 36 health every 3 seconds, or 36 health per energy. Hey that's twice as good as Mending!

Compare with Vigourous Spirit. This costs you a flat 5 energy and lasts 30 seconds. That's 8 health every time you swing. Over 30 seconds that's 360 health, or 72 health per energy. Hey that's four times as good as Mending!

Conclusion - Mending is RED ENGINE GO GO GOing awful.

Your math is off. Plus you're thinking only if targets stay there for you to hit like beanbags.

It's 3 swings every 4 seconds, IF they're not dodging, kiting, etc.

So best case scenario, Live Vicariously, with your 8 health a swing, is 24 health per 4 seconds, or 6 health a second, 18 health/energy, SAME AS MENDING ONLY IF YOU"RE HITTING CONTINUOUSLY. Also, live vicariously BOOSTS YOUR HEALTH, it can't help save squishies on your team.

Vigourous spirit can target squishies, but their attack speed is every 2 seconds so 8 health every 2 seconds is 4 health a second which is worse. If they're spamming osirin or something like that, it can get higher. Energy-wise, even at the 2 second speed, it's 15 attacks in 30 seconds for 120 health for 5 energy or 24 health/energy which is slightly greater. BUT LESS HEALTH/SECOND.

So, the MAIN PROBLEM with live vicariously and vigorous spirit is that both don't work if your squishy is kiting, running, etc. Live vicariously doesn't help your squishies at all. Vigorous spirit is less health/second and doesn't work if they're running at slightly increased energy efficiency.

CONCLUSION - Jamski, it's exactly your type of playing which gives w/mo a bad name. Mending/healing hands/etc. should be used to help teammates going down and from that standpoint is great.

Nope, that's far from being exact

It's 2 swings in 4 secs (1 attack per 1,33 seconds for a sword/axe). This makes your calculations go the other way round.

over 30 seconds (at 8 healing), mending will grant you 180 health, live vicarously 56 and spirit 56... Mending is far more better than the other two.

Moreover, you forgot the fact that you need to hit to gain the health... Monsters tend to use wards, blinds, block/evade attacks, meaning you are gaining far less health with spirit or vicarously over mending.

These are all enchants so people can strip all 3 yes... just don't cast it back until the fight is over.

One skill you might be interested with is the healing signet (hooo don't flame yet, let me explain).
I'm mostly playing the tactics line because i do crap damage but want to tank good, and i think healing signet really fits on the build. Yes you will lose 40 AL during 2 seconds which is a real drawback if you're in melee... But then i find it has very nice advantages.
With 10 in tactics, you can net a nice 115 health for 0 energy, it's a signet so less likely to be interrupted than a spell (but can be), and recharges pretty fast.
Getting back to the -40 AL drawback, it's really nothing in melee because you can combine blocking skills with it... Use bonetti (at 10 tactics you have 75% blocking chance during 9 seconds) then the signet and you regain health in the middle of the battle at some critical points. This also work with other defensive stances such as gladiators etc...

Actually here is the skills i use for tanking, you may disagree but it can open up the discussion :
- Mending (Yeah people think it's noob i know)
- Healing breeze (Yeah another noob skill)
- Healing signet (Omg i'm still sticking to the noob skills !)
- Bonetti's defence
- 3 weapons skill (sword or axe depending on my mood, but i'd rather take the axe), one costing energy and 2 using adrenaline.
- The last slot is reserved for the elite, usually Shield of judgment, sometimes gladiator defence.

Okay i'm a warrior and i self heal, with noobs skills... But for having it played a long time (250 + hours on the W/Mo), it really take some load out of the healers because they can concentrate on the other team members.

Mending is your friend, continous healing is always nice, if you are bleeding you health will not fall down also (3 - 3 = 0 degen). Mending + Breeze will give you a temporary boost of 10 pips of regen, therefore you can be set on fire, health degenerated or poisoned and still gain health regen wich is really nice in hardcore situations. (if you are set on fire, poisoned, degenerated and bleeding at the same time, that's bad luck ).

I've had nice results using this, making tanking/blocking really effective if you practise the build a bit. True you don't have much damage output whith 3 weapons skills, but it's not the point of this build anyway. As stated before, other classes can really do a better job at it, especially when they don't have to run around because you died too early.

For the armor, the best choice for me is the ascalon helm (+1 tactic), galdiator chest, arms and legs (for the extra energy) and ascalon boots (for the damage reduction...). Stick a major vigor, major absoption, 1 minor tactic and 1 minor weapon (sword or axe) and you can get nice boosts for cheap.
And use a shield (preferably -2 absorb when enchanted).

I'm open to discussion don't hesitate to comment this build, but please remember that even if it looks like noobish, actually it does tank better and longer than most warriors builds.

OK, let me put the old glasses on :
* Live vicariously : While you maintain this "Enchantment", whenever target ally hits a foe, you gain 1-11 health.

Hits a foe, now. I have Blindness on me ! Evaded. Evaded. /me is dead, because foe won't get hit.

* Vigorous Spirit : what is this Disrupting Shot skill all those critter use on me ? Where is my Vigorous Spirit ? Why am I dead ?

Oh, I survived the fight. What ? My monk is in bad shape, and the party is poisoned by those nasty spiders ! What am I gonna do ? Quick, I cast LV on the elementalist ! That way, I gain a little health if he attacks a tree before croaking. No ! Shoot ! Let me try that : I cast Vigorous Spirit on the Ranger, so he gains a whooping 8 health after the 3s Troll Unguent cast.

Well, actually I guess Vigorous Spirit on a Monk in full healing mode could help there. Thing is, Mending is a sure-fire way to keep health up (barring spell disruption, which is bad in any case), and is cast before melee, which is always good. I've tried all 3 as a W/Mo, both soloing and in PvE parties, and I know I do better with Mending.

I agree. I've found that with my W/Me, I can ocasionally lay down a Chaos Storm as I pull the monsters into me. Then, I don't have to survive as long, as everything in front of me is getting their health dribbled away.

But, yeah, having a tank that can take a huge ammount of damage standing next to you can be a godsend for the more frail melee characters. If I can get the W/Mo to rush into a monster and distract it, I can sneak up behind it and gang up on it. This leaves me free to bombard it with everything I've got, and the healers in the group only have to worry about one of us.

Really good avice also, people might say rangers/casters can be good target callers but Warriors can be very good at it also.

When you're tanking in the melee, mobs aggroed like mad around you, you can often find 1 or 2 seconds to press the View Targets button and check who will be the next ennemy. Locate it, then when your oppenent is down, quickly call the target you choose. If you are aggroing well and people are behind your blocking line, you'll be the first to reach the ennemy... So on again for another tanking session.

Right, sometimes you won't have the time to pick the best next target because the fight is getting hot and you didn't have time to view available targets. If this situation happens and the party has just just killed a mob, use the 'Choose nearest target' key then call it, take a look at what you picked and don't hesitate to switch to another target. It's always better to have a target called at any time during a fight than no target called at all and everybody striking his own mob...

For target selection i'd recommend this as a general advice (from highest to lowest priority):
- ennemy monks (ennemies also have to right to be healed , one good healer on their side can make the mobs last really longer and even be resurrected sometimes)
- ennemy necros/mesmers (Usually those who will counter your strategies, break your spells, etc...)
- ennemy elementalists/rangers (Big damage source)
- ennemy warriors
- ennemy bosses (Because they are usually tougher to kill, but with 8 people pounding on them they can be slaughtered if no other foe is alive)

some exception to these priorities thought :
- A monk boss is a monk after all ! it should be targetted when no other monks are left in the ennemy lines.
- If one ennemy warrior passed your blocking line, he can really take down quickly a caster, so help your mate out !

Have a try at it

Jhyphi got it right in his corrective post.
1 attack per 1,33 seconds for a sword/axe means 3 attacks every 4 seconds (and not 2). At 8 HP per attack, that amount to 24 per 4 seconds, 180 per 30 seconds, same as Mending. Supposing they let you hit like crazy. It gets worse if you use it on a non-warrior : Elementalists won't attack/cast that fast anyhow. Plus Mending does 360 HP over 60 seconds, whereas VS needs recast, which can be interrupted.


I think I read somewhere that A.net fixed the Ascalon/Knight's boots blanket protection bug in the last update...

Oups yeah, sad thing is that i can't count up to 3 ^^

About the knight/ascalon, as far as 2 days ago it was still working (i did a test and unless mergoyles always target the feet it reduces damage overall your body).

Best 2 things I can tell you about being a good warrior.

1) Forget all that pulling bull only about one third of the mobs in the game need to be pulled. The rest you should go into and keep aggro from wanting to run past you and into your more fleshy targets.

and

2) I played as a monk 1st and this made me play a warrior far better. Why because, I truly know the hassles a monk goes thru when having to deal with idiots that we call tanks.

mending is good. just remember to take it off when you see a mesmer mob. heal sig can be good just remember to activate a stance before you use it. breeze i used to use a lot but i find it too costly in energy, once i buy my new set of glads though i will use it.
i keep thinking in terms of UW and Fissure of Woe. in fissure do not attack when you have spiteful spirit on. in UW bring I will survive!
i always bring Watch Yourself! incase a caster is being beaten upon that 20 extra armor can really help.

anywhere else then the only real suggestion is know thy enemy. if you know it is a low lvl swarm type area then bring Gladiators Defence.
if it is a high lvl big hitter area bring disciplined stance and ripost attacks.
if there are lots of conditions flying around then bring I Will Survive!
if there are lots of hexes flying around then it means that there is likely to be a ench stripper around so watch your mending and breeze carefully.

On another note about Mending, it is also a great way to influence mob's aggression. As most of you will know, any mobs like to attack monks first if they have the choice. This is especially true with henchmen. You will probably have observed mobs running straight past Stefan and Thom and go right for Alesia. Now having a constant Health regeneration changes that. If Alesia has Mending on her, mobs will very likely just ignore her and go for Orion instead. Who of course is a squishy, too, but less cruical to party survival. For that reason I often bring Mending with my W/Mo. Keeps the Monk from drawing too much attention.

I love being a Tank, and Ive always played as one in every game for the most part.
I use stances and healing for the most and play the role of keeping myself alive and keeping the mobs attention focused on me while the other members kill stuff Everyone has there own setup i guess but this is what i use for the most part. I like to use over lapping skills and stances so when one wears the other is ready.

My basic setup with my W/Mo is,

"Weapon" Axe - sometimes i use my Vamp axe 4/1
"Off Hand" Shield - Ugly as hell but -2 damage +4 Armor +45 Health w/stance
"Monk Skills"
Healing Breeze - umm Healing hehe
Vigorous Spirit - Love the healing used with Flurry & Cyclone Axe !!
Rebirth - Just in case thing get ugly
"Warrior Skills"
Cyclone Axe - Gets several mobs attention at once and keeps them on me
Dismember - 20% max health drop is nice
Axe Twist - used after Dismember adds damage and Weakends them
Executioner's Strike - I swap this with Axe Twist some times
Bonetti's Defense & or Watch Yourself - I switch depending

Again I use diff combos and these will change as i get more Elite skills, the ones i have so far i dont care for.

PS Just have fun while doing your job thats the key PEACE!

To sum up, W/Mo's are self-sustaining tanks first, damage do'ers second in PvE's.

It's your job to be taking the damage, and I've found the best way to do that is to aggro the mobs. As long as you can aggro them and sustain them yourself (don't depend on Monks to keep you alive), you're doing your job. However, make sure not too rush too fast and leave your party behind or without energy.

I stick 8 points in healing prayers and have 4 healing skills for PvE: Mending, Vigorous Spirit, Healing Breeze, and Life Touch. In addition I have Bonetti's Defense which helps with spell spamming. That only leaves 3 slots to attack skills, which is usually simply Flurry, Skewer (the Bleeding skill, can't think of the name at the moment) and Gash but it's enough.

I only started playing a week ago but have leveled up my warrior to 19, and I've noticed that there aren't many W/Mo's or even Warriors in the later missions these days. I'm pretty used to being the only tank for missions / quests, but with the above spells I tank pretty well.

One thing to add (beyond that yes, durability is more important than damage output; yes, mending is great in PvE, don't forget the cost of re-casting spells!; and yes, every warrior needs a longbow for pulling) is that the W/Mo should lead.

He should be one full aggro-circle ahead of the others while moving (but not much more) to make sure monsters concentrate on him, and unless you explain to your teammates what you're doing, they'll likely think you're "charging ahead blindly" and try to keep up. You don't want casters within one aggro circle of you until the monsters have all targeted you - if they get closer, the monsters will try to run past you to get to them.

Also, be sure to read the "the importance of positioning" sticky thread.

Alright, since nobody simply gave him a good respone here it is:


1. Tank
2. Damage


Enjoy

Or you can waste time with the other stuff...

I really recommend you simply take, and receive damage.

And also have a decent healer(which should be given).

-Jodie

I have to say that if your wanting +1 tactics on your whelm you might want to consider Gladiator's Helm. It's also a +1 Tactics helm, but it also provides +1 energy along with same AL & +physical as the Ascalon Helm. Only reason I can see to pick Ascalon Helm over Gladiator's is you don't care for +1 energy and/or you prefer the look of Ascalon over Gladiator's..

I've read this thread with great interest as it's given me a lot to think about in terms of what my W/Mo should be doing while in a group.

I play almost exclusively with henchies and my normal technique with them is to use the Desert Collector's Smiting rod as my primary weapon; when I select a target and start firing, Stefan and Tom run in to pound it and the casters stay grouped back around me. By casting Zealot's Fire before starting, I can target either of them with Dwayna's Kiss (because it's fast and cheap and recharges quicky) to burn the mobs they're meleeing with. If things get thick, I then wade in with my axe to help them out. This is while using Watch Yourself almost continuously.

This has worked pretty well with the henchies but I can see now that on those occassions I've grouped with other players it may have left them wondering WTF is this guy doing. Recently I've been more willing to go in earlier with the axe, not because anyone has said anything but because I started wondering if maybe people weren't expecting something a little different from a "warrior". I may trying altering my strategy to include tanking a bit more, now that I have a better understanding of it.

I've done a bit of this with my henchies in certain situations (when people were pooh-poohing Endure Pain in another forum, I said I'd much rather rush a group of Hydras or Giants with 770 health than 540), but have found this usually brings the squishies (what a delightful term, this is the 1st time I've come across it) too close to the mobs. Hanging back using the rod avoids much of that and helps keep Alesia from tanking and concentrated on healing Stefan and Tom.